In the hospital, there is an ever-present need to move non or only partially ambulatory patients into and out of bed, onto or off of a gurney, or onto or off of an operating table, and to transfer the patient from one to another. These are all essentially “lateral” transfers, i.e., they do not typically involving changing the elevation of the patient's center of gravity. Hence, rolling and/or sliding operations are typically sufficient to provide for the transfer.
A “draw” or “slip” sheet is probably the most fundamental of the devices provided to serve this function. It is simply a planar sheet on which the patient lies, which is pulled across the bed/gurney/table surface (hereinafter “surface of repose”), taking the patient with it. The sheet may be provided with handles that facilitate grasping the sheet so that it can be more easily pulled. The sheets are typically formed of cloth.
The slip sheet slides on the surface of repose, and therefore resists the required pulling by friction, which is undesirable. It partially addresses this problem to provide slip sheets in the form of tubes (“transfer tube”). The transfer tube rolls as a flattened wheel, with inside surfaces of the tube sliding across one another.
An example of a transfer tube is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,232. It contains a liquid lubricant sandwiched between inside surfaces of a pad that turns over upon itself while in use. The pad is formed of an elastomeric material, preferably polyurethane, which is flexible, puncture-resistant, resistant to germicides, and has a tensile strength that is greater than about 3,000 psi. The pad is sealed along its perimeter. This type of pad is expensive enough that it is re-used, and therefore cleaned after each use.
It has been recognized that transfer tubes that are open at each end, formed of a single sheet of thin plastic material, provide good functionality and are inexpensive enough to be considered disposable. An example is disclosed in Javier, U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,411, which is indicated as being preferably formed of polyethylene. The material generally has a low coefficient of friction, which is considered to be desirable so that the internal surfaces can easily slide over one another. An apparently corresponding product is marketed as the Z-Slider™ Patient Transfer Sheet, by Sandel Medical Industries, LLC of Chatsworth Calif. This product is effective and low in cost; however, it would be desirable to provide an improvement in performance without significantly increasing cost as provided herein.